STARKVILLE — When Selena Hodge’s cat, Fish Sticks, went missing almost two years ago, it seemed like she and her family may never see him again.
“We made signs and we posted them all around the neighborhood,” Hodge said. “We called the humane society and we called the chipping company, because they send out a blast to let people know your cat is missing. So we did all of those things and we waited and nothing ever happened. And we were really sad about it because nothing ever happened.”
Fish Sticks, which the Hodge family originally adopted from Oktibbeha County Humane Society during the COVID-19 pandemic, went missing right before Christmas 2021.
But just a few weeks ago, on Nov. 17, Hodge got a call from the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, saying that her cat had been found.
“She said Fish Sticks, and I was like ‘oh, my gosh, this can’t be right,” Hodge said.
Hodge said that by the time that she and her family got the call from the humane society, they had assumed the worst had happened to Fish Sticks, and even adopted another cat, Milo, after Fish Sticks had been missing for about nine months.
Beck Ehardt, OCHS Social Media and Outreach Coordinator, said Fish Sticks was brought into the shelter as a stray on Nov. 14. But when they sent him through their standard processing procedures, they found that the cat had an identification microchip implanted before he was adopted by the Hodge family.
“Microchips do not replace an ID tag on a collar or rabies tag, because an ID tag is the easiest way to reunite a lost pet and anybody can do it,” Ehardt said. “But with the microchip, those are the best backup to have, because it’s permanent. And the first thing any shelter or vet clinic will do with a lost pet is scan it for a microchip.”
The microchip allowed OCHS to identify Fish Sticks and reconnect him with his family just three days later, Ehardt said.
Hodge said when she received the call and went to the shelter, she found that Fish Sticks was no worse for the wear. She and members of the humane society assumed that the cat had been being fed by someone, even though he was living outdoors when he was found.
When her husband and son picked Fish Sticks up, Hodge said, the cat did not seem overly distressed. Instead, he seemed to recognize both the family members and the house, once he got back home.
While the transition back to indoor life hasn’t been perfect, especially with adjusting to a new brother that was introduced to the house during his disappearance, Hodge said Fish Sticks has adjusted to being back home nearly seamlessly.
“We’re very thankful for whoever had been feeding him or looking after him,” Hodge said. “And we’re so happy to have him home right before Christmas. It’s perfect.”
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